The first installment of acclaimed author Jay Allan's Far Star series, featuring Blackhawk and the crew of the Wolf's Claw.
Arkarin Blackhawk is smuggler and a mercenary, earning a comfortable but precarious living as a freelance adventurer. He and his followers, the crew of the ship Wolf's Claw, live on the fringe of human society in the Far Stars. Blackhawk is a veteran fighter, as deadly with a blade as he is with a gun. But he is also a man haunted by a dark past, a cynical hero struggling to hold back the guilt and pain that threaten his very sanity.
As Shadow of Empire opens, Blackhawk is on a mission to retrieve the kidnapped daughter of Marshal Augustin Lucerne, one of his few longtime friends outside his crew. With their ship damaged in their escape attempt after freeing Astra Lucerne, they are forced to land on an out of the way planet in the middle of a civil war. While they are caught up in the conflict, they begin to uncover clues about imperial involvement and support for the other side, including enhanced weaponry that neither side should possess.
Lucerne redoubles his efforts to forge a Far Stars Confederation strong enough to eliminate all imperial influence in the sector. He tries to enlist Blackhawk to join him but, still plagued by guilt and memories from the last time he led military forces, he declines despite the marshal's repeated entreaties. The Wolf's Claw and her crew depart Celtiboria, though it is revealed that despite his refusal, Blackhawk does not truly believe he and his people will be able to avoid deepening involvement in the sector-wide conflict that is developing.
